Deafness in Ghana

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Deafness in Ghana carries with it a large social stigma. [1] Deafness in Ghana is also a variegated subject, in large part due to government policies, or a lack thereof. Deaf Ghanaians choose from a number of sign languages, with the primary one estimated to be Ghanaian Sign Language. [2] The exact number of deaf individuals in Ghana is not known for sure, but It is estimated that there are between 110,000 and 211,000 deaf and hard of hearing people in Ghana. [2] Deaf awareness in Ghana has been on the rise since the arrival of the educator Andrew Foster from America in 1957. [3] There are over a dozen schools teaching deaf Ghanaians,[ citation needed ] and a number of organizations advocating on behalf of Ghana's deaf population. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Stigmas

Deaf Ghanaians face serious social stigma. Many members of the community think deafness is a curse, often handed down as punishment for a sin made in a previous life. This stigma often leads to deaf children being neglected by their parents. Experts believe that a lack of understanding of deafness at a societal level leads to the rejection of deaf children, preventing them from achieving important developmental landmarks such as acquiring a language. [1] Along a similar line, sign language is viewed as a second rate form of communication, and not taught in many schools. [1] Perhaps as a result of stigmatization, DHH individuals in Ghana report feeling lonely and isolated. It's often the case that a DHH individual's own family doesn't know how to sign. Many DHH individuals feel that they can only communicate effectively with other DHH individuals. [7]

Sign languages

There are four different sign languages practiced in Ghana. Many experts[ who? ] believe that one of the primary issues Ghana faces is lack of government support for an official sign language in Ghana. In 2006, the Ghanaian government passed the Persons With Disability Act to provide equal rights for disabled people. [2] This act was later ratified in 2012 to provide more protections; however, many experts in the subject are calling for yet another ratification to bring Ghana's disability policy in line with the requirements laid out by the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [2]


Medical aspects

The causes of hearing impairment in Ghana are not well studied. What is known is that hearing impairment is usually either acquired or inherited. Generally, females tended to be more at risk for acquiring hearing impairment than males, and adults more than children. In regard to inheriting hearing impairment, studies have linked one gene in particular to hearing loss; however, no other genes were studied. Overall, more research is needed to pinpoint causes with more accuracy. [8]

A source close to the situation indicates the primary solution to deafness in Ghana is the teaching of sign language in schools for the deaf. In fact, none of Ghana's 14 deaf schools provide hearing devices of any type for their students. [7] The sole reliance on signing has led to some difficulty in deaf Ghanaians receiving adequate health care due to communication barriers between care givers and patients. [9]

Deaf associations

The primary deaf association in Ghana is the Ghana National Association of the Deaf. GNAD was founded in 1968 and is recognized as a volunteer organization by the Ghanaian Ministry of Manpower. GNAD is a member of the World Federation of the Deaf and a member of the Ghanaian organization Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations. GNAD aims to change social stigmas regarding deaf individuals through education and organized sporting activities. GNAD also seeks to aid deaf individuals who are struggling economically by teaching them skills that can be applied to a trade. [4]

Additionally GNAD has an active youth wing (GNAD-YS) focused on providing education to deaf children so that they can participate in the economy and lead safe, secure lives. GNAD-YS was founded in 2009 with the primary goals of removing communication barriers and being pushing towards equal opportunity for deaf individuals. [5] GNAD also has a women's branch abbreviated GNAD-WW. The focus of the women's branch is to support and empower deaf women. In Ghana, there is a stigma surrounding deaf women, that they are incapable or that they are weak. It is the goal of GNAD-WW to fight this stigma. Mistreatment by men is a problem for deaf women in Ghana. It is not uncommon for men to make deaf decisions for deaf women without regard for the woman's needs. The women's branch is trying to combat this by empowering women to take action as well as reeducating men. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hearing loss</span> Partial or total inability to hear

Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken language, and in adults it can create difficulties with social interaction and at work. Hearing loss can be temporary or permanent. Hearing loss related to age usually affects both ears and is due to cochlear hair cell loss. In some people, particularly older people, hearing loss can result in loneliness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deaf culture</span> Culture of deaf persons

Deaf culture is the set of social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values, and shared institutions of communities that are influenced by deafness and which use sign languages as the main means of communication. When used as a cultural label, especially within the culture, the word deaf is often written with a capital D and referred to as "big D Deaf" in speech and sign. When used as a label for the audiological condition, it is written with a lower case d. Carl G. Croneberg coined the term "Deaf Culture" and he was the first to discuss analogies between Deaf and hearing cultures in his appendices C/D of the 1965 Dictionary of American Sign Language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deaf education</span> Education of the deaf and hard of hearing

Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and other interventions designed to help students achieve a higher level of self-sufficiency and success in the school and community than they would achieve with a typical classroom education. There are different language modalities used in educational setting where students get varied communication methods. A number of countries focus on training teachers to teach deaf students with a variety of approaches and have organizations to aid deaf students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disability in Ghana</span>

The Ghana Statistical Service reports from their 2021 census indicate that approximately eight percent of the Ghanaian population experience some form of disability, with a higher prevalence among females (8.8%) than males (6.7%). Disabilities are more common in rural areas (9.5%) compared to urban areas (6.5%). Among the six domains of disability, difficulty in seeing is the most widespread, affecting four percent of the population, while difficulty in communicating is the least common, affecting one percent. Disability issues in Ghana have evolved from a human rights concern to a developmental issue due to Ghana's high poverty rate.

Language exposure for children is the act of making language readily available and accessible during the critical period for language acquisition. Deaf and hard of hearing children, when compared to their hearing peers, tend to face more hardships when it comes to ensuring that they will receive accessible language during their formative years. Therefore, deaf and hard of hearing children are more likely to have language deprivation which causes cognitive delays. Early exposure to language enables the brain to fully develop cognitive and linguistic skills as well as language fluency and comprehension later in life. Hearing parents of deaf and hard of hearing children face unique barriers when it comes to providing language exposure for their children. Yet, there is a lot of research, advice, and services available to those parents of deaf and hard of hearing children who may not know how to start in providing language.

Deafness in Bangladesh is a major health issue. About 9.6% of the population of Bangladesh, is deaf or hard of hearing. Hearing loss in any degree is present in 34.6% of the population, and profound hearing loss is present in 1.2% of the population. The sign language used in Bangladesh is called Bangla Sign Language (BdSL). Deaf people in Bangladesh often do not have access to treatment or education, and commonly face discrimination. There are many Deaf associations in Bangladesh.

Deafness in France is a topic that is relevant to individuality, education, and community. France has a long-running history of involvement with DHH individuals, especially during World War II. There were reportedly about 10,000,000 hearing impaired people in France as of 2014, of whom about 360,000 had "very serious or total" functional limitations, meaning unable to hear a conversation with multiple people and identifying as deaf or hard of hearing. While FSL is the main signed language in France, ASL is studied and used commonly, and French Cued Speech, a mixture of spoken French and FSL, is also not uncommon.

Deafness in Portugal involves several elements such as the history, education, community, and medical treatment that must be understood to grasp the experiences of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals in this region. Currently there are 60,000 people in Portugal that are deaf sign language users. Among that number are 100 working sign language interpreters. Currently, the form of sign language used in Portugal is Portuguese Sign Language. In Portugal, the cities Lisbon and Porto have the largest deaf populations.

India is home to approximately 63 million people of the deaf and hard of hearing community (DHH). It has been argued that while India's government has focused heavily on modernizing the country with technological resources and infrastructure, the needs of the DHH residents of India have been ignored. Although sign language has been evolving within the country, it was not until 2017 that the Indian government decided to codify sign language in a dictionary format.

In Ireland, 8% of adults are affected by deafness or severe hearing loss. In other words, 300,000 Irish require supports due to their hearing loss.

Japanese Sign Language (JSL), also known as Nihon Shuwa, is the unofficial but most predominantly used sign language used by nearly 57,000 native signers as their primary language. It is a convergent, Deaf community sign language developed in the late 19th century.

Though official statistics are not available, the Danish Deaf Association estimates that there are currently about 5,000 deaf users of Danish Sign Language, which is equivalent to nearly 0.1% of the country's population. As many as 20,000 people are thought to use the language daily in their professional or personal life.


Deafness in Poland refers to the Deaf communities in Poland and education around their culture and language. Poland has a recorded history of DHH people, dating back to 1817. About 15.1% of Polish people in Poland say they have hearing loss. Polski Język Migowy is the main signed language in Poland.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a population of about 1.4 million deaf people out of a total population of about 86.7 million. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are one of the more greatly affected regions by hard-of-hearing complications, compared to the rest of the world. Deaf people in the DRC are subject to neglect and discrimination by their families and the government, but they are also met with small, various ways of support and charity through international, European, Australian, and American religious, non-religious, and governmental organizations.

According to The Deaf Unit Cairo, there are approximately 1.2 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals in Egypt aged five and older. Deafness can be detected in certain cases at birth or throughout childhood in terms of communication delays and detecting language deprivation. The primary language used amongst the deaf population in Egypt is Egyptian Sign Language (ESL) and is widely used throughout the community in many environments such as schools, deaf organizations, etc. This article focuses on the many different aspects of Egyptian life and the impacts it has on the deaf community.

The Canadian Association of the Deaf estimates that there are over 350,000 Deaf Canadians, but there is not an exact number since there has never been a formal census on Deaf Canadians. There are approximately 1.2 million Indigenous people and over 750 reserves in Canada. There are various intersections of deaf and Indigenous culture, including valuing community, rooting their identity in their culture and its associated group instead of their individuality, having their identities oversimplified, being underrepresented in research and data collection, and experiencing health inequities due to their identities. There is limited research on Deaf Indigenous people, but the Saskatchewan Human Rights Association argues that issues faced by Deaf people are exacerbated when that person is also Indigenous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deafness in the Windward Islands</span>

The Windward Islands are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea that include Dominica, Martinique, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada. A variety of cultures, beliefs, languages, and views of deafness exist on the islands.

In Benin, deafness affects 12,500 people out of their total population of 10 million. Since the late 1900s, there has been a growing emergence of resources, recognition, and support for the deaf people in Benin. The deaf community uses American Sign Language (ASL), Langue des Signes de l'Afrique Francophone (LSAF), and Langue des signes du Bénin. The type of sign and how many people use each remain undocumented. However, in 1994, one of the first LSAF dictionaries was published in Benin.

Deafness in Thailand refers to the population and culture of Deaf Hard of Hearing people in Thailand. Deafness in Thailand includes language emergence, organizations, healthcare, employment, schooling, and civil rights.

There is limited information on the extent of Deafness in Haiti, due mainly to the lack of census data. Haiti's poor infrastructure makes it almost impossible to obtain accurate information on many health related issues, not just the hearing impaired. In 2003, the number of deaf people in Haiti was estimated at 72,000, based on a survey provided by the World Health Organization.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Silenced and Isolated: Struggles of Ghana's Deaf Community". BORGEN. 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Owoo, Mama Adobea Nii. "Sign language needs policy protection in Ghana". The Conversation. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  3. ↑ Owoo, Nkechi S.; Page, John (2017-02-16), "Industrial Policy in Ghana", The Economy of Ghana Sixty Years after Independence, Oxford University Press, pp. 176–191, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198753438.003.0011, ISBN   978-0-19-875343-8 , retrieved 2021-10-04
  4. 1 2 "About GNAD – Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD)". Archived from the original on 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  5. 1 2 "Ghana National Association of the Deaf, Youth Section". Mill Neck International. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  6. 1 2 "Deaf Women Leaders in Ghana, Africa: Empowerment, Advancement > Mill Neck International". Mill Neck International. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  7. 1 2 Borren, Daaf. "In Ghana, the deaf live in isolation". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  8. ↑ Adadey, Samuel Mawuli; Awandare, Gordon; Amedofu, Goffrey Kwabla; Wonkam, Ambroise (2017-11-01). "Public Health Burden of Hearing Impairment and the Promise of Genomics and Environmental Research: A Case Study in Ghana, Africa". OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. 21 (11): 638–646. doi:10.1089/omi.2017.0145. PMC   5915221 . PMID   29140768.
  9. ↑ Senayah, Ebenezer Alfa; Mprah, Wisdom Kwadwo; Opoku, Maxwell Peprah; Edusei, Anthony Kweku; Torgbenu, Eric Lawer (2019). "The accessibility of health services to young deaf adolescents in Ghana". The International Journal of Health Planning and Management. 34 (1): e634–e645. doi: 10.1002/hpm.2679 . ISSN   1099-1751. PMID   30311956. S2CID   52964229.
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